It’s a question that’s baffled scientists, because many have skyhigh cholesterol and barely exercise. This includes chimpanzees whose genetics are almost the same as us, yet they rarely have heart attacks.

Well, a new study may have revealed the reason why. It’s all to do with a genetic mutation ONLY humans have.

It’s all to do with a ‘switched off’ gene

There’s no doubt that not getting enough exercise, smoking, and not enough fruit and veg don’t help. But about 1 in 12 people who have heart attacks have NONE of these risk factors.

Well, scientists have now discovered the answer.

It’s all to do with a gene called CMAH.

This gene’s job was to produce sialic acids. And sialic acids were used by the body to keep levels of fats, cholesterol, and other harmful substances under control.

Humans once had this gene. But it’s now thought it got ‘switched off’ 2-3 millions years ago.

As a result, we have low levels of the sialic acids we need to stop fats and cholesterol clogging up our arteries.

This could explain why heart attacks and strokes now cause a third of all deaths worldwide, despite rarely happening in the animal kingdom.

Cholesterol Rockets 240% in Mice

The damage having an inactive CMAH gene may have caused to our health was revealed in a shocking experiment by a team of scientists from the University of Michigan Medical School.

They genetically modified mice to reduce their levels of the sialic acids this gene produces. This caused the amount of fats and cholesterol in their arteries to rocket.

But the scientists then went a step further…

They then fed the mice a high-fat diet. This made their cholesterol levels shoot up 240% more than that of unmodified mice.

Can Reactivating the Gene Prevent Heart Attacks?

Based on this study, you’d think all we need to do is reactivate the CMAH gene to produce more sialic acids to get cholesterol under control?

But scientists have already thrown cold water on this idea.

“This is a permanent mutation in humans – we can’t reverse it,” said Prof Ajit Varki at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, who’s also led research into the genetic mechanism.

Switching on and off genes in mice is also one thing. Trying to do it humans is whole other ball game.

“The changes seen in a mouse may be very different from those in a human. In a mouse study, the disease is greatly accelerated, so there needs to be much more work done on the association with humans.”

Dorian Haskard, professor of cardiovascular medicine and rheumatology at Imperial College London

But the breakthrough discovery of the role of the CMAH gene is not without hope.

Because scientists from University of Michigan Medical School now plan to develop an antidote that allows people to eat red meat without sending their cholesterol rocketing.

It could be a long time before you can pick this antidote up in BBQ sauce form from grocery store shelves, though.

So in the meantime, the best strategy for lowering the risk of heart attacks remains the same: Eat more fruit and veg, exercise, and get unhealthy habits under control.

Disclaimer – Statements made in this article have not been approved or verified by the FDA. This information is not intended to be a substitute or replacement for any medical treatment. Please seek the advice of a healthcare professional for your specific health concerns. Individual results may vary.

The fact that growing a physically bigger brain makes you smarter was first discovered by a neuroscientist from Rockefeller University called Fernando Nottebohm.

After artificially inducing canaries to grow their brains in size (trust me, no canaries were harmed), they were able to remember longer bird songs.

This turned the world of neuroscience upside down.

As Nottebohm notes:

“That was a real shock, because we had all been taught that an adult brain was supposed to stay the same size, with the same cells, forever.”

His discovery was one of the biggest breakthroughs ever in neuroscience. As it proved that if you exercise your brain daily you can make it bigger, stronger, and more powerful, just like a muscle.

So if you’d like to boost your memory, enhance your concentration, and become smarter all round…

The key to a BIGGER brain is exercise.

Even better is doing a variety of exercises that give it a workout in different ways.

It;s for this reason I investigated a brain training system called The Memory Professor.

It claims to provide the same daily exercises harnessed by ancient greek philosophers, memory champions, and elite public speakers.

In fact, it even claims to boost your memory 500% in as little as 30 days.

That’s a huge claim.

So I thought I’d better checkout if it can live up to the hype.

neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of the University of California San Francisco, “It may not [technically] be a muscle, but you can train your brain just like you would your biceps to perform at a significantly higher level.”

So you see, with the right exercise it can be made stronger, healthier, and higher performing.

It claims to improve your brain500% in 30 days. And in as little as 25 minutes a day.

Will it work for you?

Here’s what you need to know…

What’s The Memory Professor?

The Memory Professor provides daily brain training exercises based on the same techniques developed by the world’s greatest memory experts.

This includes ancient Greek philosophers, Indian memory masters and modern day elite public speakers.

The Memory Professor also features the same brain training sessions run at live corporate seminars. Except you won’t have to pay the $3,000+ fee to complete them.

Who Created The Memory Professor?

The Memory Professor was created by Kit Stevenson after her poor memory got her in trouble.

She found herself lost and shivering in the rain after arriving at the wrong hotel on a backpacking trip through Europe. What’s worse, her phone had died and she hadn’t written down the hotel’s address.

She then spent hours wandering the streets of Madrid.

As Kit describes:

“I ended up standing on a street corner, soaking wet, jetlagged, unable to move with all my luggage, in front of a shut gate in an unknown area in gloom and doom weather with no-one else on the streets.”

Eventually Kit found the correct hotel. This experience made her determined never to get lost due to poor memory again.

As Kit says, “Being a single female traveler at the time, I have encountered a number of situations around the world, where it was paramount that I know all the emergency phone numbers upon landing in a country.”

In the years that followed, she researched everything she could about the wisest minds in history and how people trained themselves to become smarter.

This led to her developing her own system for physically growing a stronger, smarter mind in 30 days. And so The Memory Professor was born.

What Do You Get?

Ever read a book and completely forgot what you read in a matter of weeks?

Well, memorising key information and internalising it is just one of the many skills you can develop from The Memory Professor.

Other skills you can gain include:

Legendary multi-sensory association techniques

Clever “Name and Face” memory encryption method

The breakthrough “Herigones Mnemonic System” for creating a steel vault of info locked in your mind

Powerful Brain Gym Quizzes and Scribe Videos

Little known “Memory Palace Method” for using spatial awareness to learn a long series of numbers

Time proven “Back of a Napkin” method – remember things in context of stories and images

Who Can Benefit

The Memory Professor offers an excellent path to a healthier brain for anyone willing to put in the effort.

This includes:

Students studying for exams who need to remember facts, dates, and key arguments for exams.

Professionals who’ve noticed their brain isn’t as fast as it used to be, and would love to feel mentally fit, energetic and on the ball.

People in their 50s or 60s worried about their brain decaying as they get older.

Seniors in their 70s or older who want to ensure they continue remembering people’s faces, names, and want to stay on top of daily tasks, like paying the bills on time.

Lifelong learners who want the mental capacity to learn new languages, to become better public speakers, to play new instruments, or take up mentally demanding hobbies.

So you see, all sorts of people can benefit from The Memory Professor. And with a healthier mind comes greater enjoyment in all sorts of areas of life.

Who Won’t Benefit

In today’s world, too many people want shortcuts, hacks and fast tracks to success. But getting a smarter brain’s not that simple.

Your brain needs daily exercise and time to get stronger. So it may take 30 days or longer before you notice your memory, focus, and mental energy has improved.

The Memory Professor is also unlikely to turn you into a genius. While Kit claims it can give you a 500% smarter brain in 30 days, this sounds pretty far fetched. But just a 100% boost would still be a big improvement.

Disclaimer – Statements made in this article have not been approved or verified by the FDA. This information is not intended to be a substitute or replacement for any medical treatment. Please seek the advice of a healthcare professional for your specific health concerns. Individual results may vary. This is an advertisement and not a blog or article.

You may be interested to know eating a handful of nuts each day can be great for your brain health.

This was recently discovered by a team of researchers from Loma Linda University in California.

After studying the brain waves of participants before and after eating handfuls of nuts, the researchers saw a “sequence of enhancing sensory awareness tasks ranging from cognition of past experience, visualization, olfaction, and taste.”

In other words, the participants had clearer, more precise memories than before.

Why are nuts so healthy for the brain?

It’s because nuts are packed with…

Antioxidants called “flavonoids”.

And these flavonoids act as a clean up crew, mopping up toxins and free radicals.

Yet, what’s more remarkable is that different types of nuts offer different brain benefits.

This was another groundbreaking discovery by the Loma Linda University researchers. They found the brain waves of participants changed depending on the huts that ate.

Would you like ot know which nuts they found to be the best for brain performance?

#1 was Walnuts.

Walnuts were followed by pecans and cashews.

So the next time you feel like snacking, munch on a few walnuts. Your brain will thank you for it.

Ever heard the saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”?

Well, all I can say is that phrase was coined long before the era of processed food

Because you see, even after a hearty breakfast, many people will grab a mid morning snack… followed by feasting on a carb heavy lunch… a packet of potato chips in the afternoon… and ALL before emptying a full dinner plate.

All this snacking and feasting means our body is constantly digesting food. It NEVER gets a break.

At best, it gets a tiny window to process a meal before more gets shoved down the chute.

The good news is there’s an easy fix.

Intermittent fasting, or IF for short, for has exploded in popularity as a way of losing weight, relieving indigestion, and triggering all sorts of health benefits.

IF isn’t a diet.

IF is an eating pattern.

The way it works is that a couple of days a week you skip breakfast.

This gives your gut a breather, so it can digest more of the food already in your stomach. It can also burn off some of the fat stored in your cells.

It sounds so simple.

Yet a study in the journal Cell Metabolism showed IF may decrease risk factors for all sorts of diseases. This includes diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even cancer.

IF may boost the brain too.

The reason IF is great for your brain is because it increases levels of the BDNF. BDNF is a protein your brain needs to make new neurons.

Disclaimer – Statements made in this article have not been approved or verified by the FDA. This information is not intended to be a substitute or replacement for any medical treatment. Please seek the advice of a healthcare professional for your specific health concerns. Individual results may vary. This is an advertisement and not a blog or article.

After a long day, I love to indulge my taste buds with a few of Lindt’s dark squares.

But when experts said dark chocolate is healthy, I don’t think they meant to eat the whole bar!

Sadly, I’m not alone in struggling with overpowering cravings for foods that give me comfort amidst the daily grind.

According to the American Psychological Association, 38% of US adults admit to bingeing on unhealthy foods to relieve stress.(1)

Of those, over half say the joy of biting into a juicy burger or sweet release of a slice of cake leaves them feeling ashamedafterwards. While 1 in 3 say filling up on unhealthy foods leaves them feeling sluggish and drained.

The good news is a team of scientists from Louisiana State University (LSU) has found cravings for unhealthy foods can be reduced or even stopped altogether.(2) Even better, the method they discovered doesn’t involve willpower, overpriced supplements, or diet pills.

As John Apolzan, director of Pennington Biomedical Clinical Nutrition, who led the research, says cravings are “a conditioned response that you can unlearn.“

Changing Habits is Key To Reduce Emotional Eating

After examining 28 peer-reviewed studies, the team from LSU concluded that cravings for unhealthy foods often don’t occur due to hunger. Instead, cravings occur due to deeply entrenched behavioral triggers.

Surprisingly, these are habits and behaviors many people think are healthy yet studies now show may make cravings worse.

The goods news is the team at LSU also discovered that changing these behaviorsis all it can take to reduce cravings for junk food and make it easier to stick to clean eating habits.

As Candice Myers, PhD, who was also involved in the research, said “Cravings influences what people eat and their body weight, but there are some components of our behavior and diet that we do have control over.”

So what are these craving inducing behaviors and how can you reduce emotional eating habits? Read on to find out:

Eating junk foods in moderation can help make clean eating habits easier to stick to the long run

Sure, going cold turkey on pasta, soda, and white bread can work wonders for your waistline for a while.

But living without the comfort of favorite food can quickly make people feel deprived. Then all it takes is a stressful day at work to trigger an eating binge of epic proportions.

So what’s the solution to reduce emotional eating habits?

Simple: Reduce the intake of unhealthy foods GRADUALLY.

Making dietary changes gradually gives the taste buds and brain time to adjust. The result is clean eating feels less like punishment and easier to sustain for the long haul.

“Bingeing is triggered by deprivation, which leads to a vicious cycle,” says best selling health author and popular health blogger Jessica Sepel. “Instead of depriving your body of food, it’s time to start nourishing yourself and healing your relationship with nutrition.” (15)

So how can the chain reaction of stress leading to cravings for junk food be avoided?

The key to reduce emotional eating due to stress is to find healthy ways of relieving stress, rather than raiding the fridge.

Finding hobbies that offer fulfilment and reward can fill the void people otherwise fill with food

5. Lack of Fulfilment

People often struggle to reduce emotional eating due to boredom or due to a void in their lives.

As Sarah Allen, a psychologist specializing in mood and eating disorders, notes, “eating gives us something to do. It fills our time, gives us a way to procrastinate.”(11)

The reason we eat when bored is because it releases the ‘reward hormone’ dopamine in the brain.

Karen R. Koenig, a licensed clinical social worker and eating psychology expert, says that due to the release of dopamine “the meaning of eating is, ‘I’m going to be happy. I’m not going to be in emotional discomfort. I’ll have this wonderful experience.”(11)

Sadly, the foods that trigger the biggest dopamine dump are those loaded with SUGAR.(11)

So if sugary foods make us feel so great due to dopamine, how can we stop eating them?

The solution is to pursue new interests and hobbies that provide a sense of fulfilment and reward.

A good place to start is to write a bucket list of things to try. Pursuing those things can then fill the void otherwise filled with food.

6. Too Much Processed ‘Frankenfoods‘

A key reason why 2 in 3 Americans are now classed overweight or obese is because of the low nutrition in processed ‘frankenfoods’.(12)

The human body craves nutrients. And it won’t stop feeling hungry until it gets enough.

This is why people can eat pasta, potato chips, and cookies until the cows come home without feeling full. It’s because these foods are criminally low in nutrition.(13)

Reducing emotional eating habits involves skills that can improve life in many other ways

As these six behaviors demonstrate, there’s no magic bullet or wonder pill that can reduce emotional eating and cravings for good.

Instead, it involves changing our relationship with food...

Finding other ways of relieving stress than biting into a juicy burger…

Pursuing fulfilling activities that release feelings of joy…

and to gradually adopt clean eating and exercise habits in harmony with the body’s hormones.

Making these changes involves self reflection, personal growth, and persistence. It also requires skills in mindfulness, body confidence, positive thinking, and goal setting.

The good news is that these skills aren’t just beneficial for reducing emotional eating habits. They can transform life in many other areas too.

For anyone interested in developing these skills so they can reduce emotional eating habits and gain inner peace, physical health, and a happier mindset, we’ve developed a 7 step program that can help.

Disclaimer – Statements made in this article have not been approved or verified by the FDA. This information is not intended to be a substitute or replacement for any medical treatment. Please seek the advice of a healthcare professional for your specific health concerns. Individual results may vary.

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